Taylor’s growth on feminism

A few thoughts on Taylor’s new single “You Need to Calm Down”. It’s the new iconic PRIDE! anthem. But beyond that I think it’s important in representing Taylor’s personal growth. The first verse and the bridge especially show this growth.

Taylor talks about how hate never helped anybody and how being negative is just a waste of your own energy and stress. The bridge meanwhile talks about the people should stop pitting women against other women because “We’ve all got Crowns”.

Now look at Taylor’s past decade of media representation. There’s the whole Kimye fiasco, the falling out with Katy and Demi, and other somewhat negative comments made over the years by Taylor. Her past songs have often being negative about other people (Mean, Better than Revenge etc.) Taylor’s feminism has also sometimes been somewhat shakey, having been accused of being a “white feminist”.

Outside of her control, any narrative about a female artist inevitably leads to comparisons with Taylor, whether being negative about Taylor or negative about the other female artist (see: Hayley Kiyoko). She’s constantly used as an attack on other artists or is attacked with the imagery of other artists. 

What Taylor has realised in the last few years is where her own faults within these conflicts lie. She probably realises there were better ways to deal with the Kimye fiasco than she did. She’s reconciled with Katy in recent months, and the frost seems to have melted from the Taylor-Demi relationship. She’s voiced her support of other female artists (Kesha and Hayley again - the latter very publicly after people tried to compare the two) in addition to lending support to the queer community. She’s still not taking shit though, calling people out for pitting women against each other, counter-suing the sexual harraser for $1 and being blunt in her testimoney about it, as well as being unapolgetic about herself.

Ultimately, Taylor has grown up. Personal growth on issues like feminism, lgbtq+ struggles, POC struggles etc. are constant learning curves. No one can ever be perfect on these issues, especially a young adult (as Taylor was when she released some of those songs and made some of her comments). But as she’s gotten older, she’s grown and accepted some of the criticism. She’s taken opportunities to learn about issues and struggles that might not affect her, but affect others. She’s also learnt one of the most valuable lessons of adulthood: negativity is largely pointless; whether that negativity is macro (people hating queer people) or micro (personal rivalries/grudges), most of that hate is pointless and toxic. That’s ultimaely what this song is about I think.

P.S. I should mention that the song is still negative about media narratives, which is valid considering how harmful some of the perceptions the media have pushed about Taylor for years have been. THe long-held criticism and ‘joke’ that Taylor dates around was always rooted in slut-shaming and casual sexism and it’s right to call that out and to call out people who perpetuate it (watches Tina Fey and Amy Pohler for personal growth - who I love generally).

‘Who are you?’ ‘I’m you but hotter.’ 

It’s been 3 years but I wanted to honour the video that made me fall in love with Tom and triggered my Marvel obsession

ARE YOU I

OUT OF WAS

YOUR MIND ATTACKED

Masters of lowkey spoilers

More like me coming to terms with the fact that RDJ gets to kiss Tom Holland and I don’t 

me, having to come to the terms with the fact that tom holland gets to go through life receiving a dad kiss from rdj and i don’t:

There is no argument, this scene is the best thing that infinity war has given us

Honestly one of the most heartbreaking scenes in the film

goodbye natasha romanoff  — thank you for 9 incredible years

“i lost the kid”

“i love u 3000”

“mr stark, we won, please, tony”

Peter Parker gonna need therapy

So, in a single day, sticky boi does the following:

Travels to space. Space. EMPTY SPACE.

Meets some aliens.

Fights Thanos and watches Tony and this weird doctor get hurt.

Dusts. Which is probably hella traumatic.

Returns. It’s been a hot minute for him! But then that weird doctor tells him it’s been five years. FIVE YEARS!!!

Travels to Earth. 

Fights and kills a bunch of aliens.

Is bombarded by alien bombs. Curls up in fear before being saved by this awesome incredible glowing creature known as Captain Marvel.

Watches his mentor Tony die. DIE. Almost in his arms. Loses his mentor.

Then, after that, he has to attend the funeral etc.

But bitch, that boy is gonna need therapy. Lots and lots of expensive therapy. He ain’t sleeping for weeks. He’s gonna have PTSD etc. I hope FFH dips its toes into this and shows Peter dealing with the trauma. Hopefully realistically. 

Tony and Steve’s ends

ENDGAME SPOILERS

I’ve seen so much negativity about Tony and Steve’s endings in Endgame that I sort of wanna address because I think a lot of it is misplaced.

Steve:

* It is perfectly within his character for him to go back to the love of his life. The MCU, with both all three Captain America films and some of the Avengers films, have signalled this for literally eight years now.

* The timelines are not, as some people think, fucked up, nor does this mean that Steve will allow his best friend to suffer. The time travel in this movie creates alternate timelines. There’s a timeline where Loki escaped in 2012. A timeline where Thanos disappears in 2014. There’s also a timeline where Peggy Carter marries Steve Rodgers rather than her husband in the main timeline. In that timeline, Steve presumably blows Hydra’s cover in SHIELD and saves his best friend.

Tony:

* I get why people are upset about Tony dying after he has a family at last. But I think it’s probably the most realistic and accurate to the character of any of the ends. Tony Stark survived hell in Afghanistan and now wants to protect the world. He succeeded a few times and then failed in the most ultimate fashion, losing someone who was like a son to him.

* He then spends five years rebuilding his life, has a daughter etc. Presumably, Thanos’ snap has really killed off anyone’s interest in significantly conquering the Earth, so there aren’t really any threats.

* Then Tony sees an opportunity to actually save the world and his ‘son’. It’s absolutely within his character to go back and try. Hell, Pepper even broke up with him at one point in their relationship because she knew he’d never let go.

* And that’s exactly the point. Tony has tried to let go, but he always gets sucked back in. It’s a flaw or perhaps a positive in his character. It’s something he knows, that Pepper knows, that most people know. The inevitable outcome of that character trait was his death. Even if he survived this conflict, then he’d go with the Avengers on the next battle, and the next, until he died in battle. He was never going to retire and live till old age. That just wasn’t him after Afghanistan and New York. 

* The most wonderful part of Tony’s arc is that even though his death was inevitable, he still spent five years being somewhat happy. He had a family. He had a kid. It was beautiful, and while it’s heartbreaking that they lost him, that was always an inevitability.